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RUNNING HEAD: Farms of the Future

Farms of the Future

Alexander Darnell
Baker College
Professor Quillamor

Farms of the future

The world is constantly evolving. The population increases while people are relentlessly
searching for new ways to make farming more efficient for the changes ahead. Farmers are no
longer uneducated technologically impaired people whom only use the information and
techniques passed down from their elders. They are now becoming more tech savvy than ever.
With the new technologies emerging in the agriculture industry, farmers are needing to adjust.
Farmers all around the world in developed countries are making their farms more efficient and
getting higher yields with fewer or the same number of human workers with the use of just a few
of the new technologies. The world population is estimated to be 9 billion by the year 2050,
which will demand a 70% increase in food production according to the Food and Agriculture
Organization(FAO). With as little as 2% of U.S. workers having jobs related to agriculture, and
that number on a steady decline, farmers will need more precise, efficient and affordable
technologies. These new technological advancements in agriculture such as crop sensors, robotic
farm swarms, genetically designed food and vertical farming will help farmers feed the growing
world population as the agriculture workforce shrinks.
Crop sensors will play a major role in the future of agriculture. These advanced pieces of
technology will help the farmer of the future manage their farm much more efficiently with
higher yields in less time. WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks) have a bright future on the farm in a
wide variety of areas such as environmental monitoring, irrigation and livestock. WSNs use
small sensor nodes that connect back to a main gateway which can communicate information by
using services such as the internet or Local Area Networks (LAN). Farmers will also be able to
use sensors in their equipment to warn them of a potential equipment failure before it happens.
The value of technology can be best realized when integrated with agronomic knowledge, using
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the information gathered in the improvement of decision support systems (state of the art and
current trends, Luis Ruiz-Garcia, 2009) The farmer of the future will need to learn to work with
technology. Farmers will learn to read and analyze the immense amount of information given to
them to better manage their farms in an effort to help feed the growing population. Efficient
water management is a major concern in many crop systems. WST have a big potential for
represent the inherent soil variability present in fields with more accuracy than the current
systems available. Thus, the benefit for the producers is a better decision support system that
allows the farmer to maximize their productivity while saving water Farmers will be able to use
water, the most valuable resource, in the most efficient way possible with the use of sensors. By
detecting the moisture levels of the soil the farmers will know how much water to put where.
Another ingenious invention that is becoming more common every day is automated farm
swarms. These futuristic robots do the dirty work for the farmer such as planting, fertilizing,
monitoring and harvesting of the crop and or livestock. These teams of robotic swarms will drive
on the ground or fly over the crops and help produce the best yield possible while working day
and night without human error. Automated farm equipment will also be able to use sensors to
properly place more seeds where they are most likely to grow the best and less where growing
conditions are not the best. since a soils electro-conductivity is related to its fertility, the
computer tells the planter how frequently it should lay seeds placing fewer plants in weak soil
makes for fewer duds, while the lost density is made up for in the richer, more thickly populated
areas (Taylor Dobbs, July 9th 2013) Techniques such as this will not only help the farmer get the
most from their seeds but also help identify the areas of the field which need work. This sort of
incremental technology has been well-received in the agriculture community, where margins are
traditionally so tight that tractors which stray from their course by just six inches can noticeably
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cut profits (Dobbs, July 9th 2013) The margin for error is incredibly small in the field of
agriculture. After long hours behind the wheel farmers are bound to make mistakes such as
straying from their lines and overlapping already planted seeds resulting in decreased yield and
profit. Automated swarms have the potential to raise farm revenue by 2.3% due to fewer errors,
longer working hours and faster paces. Also, if needed, agriculture robots can work through the
night to get the job done unlike maned operations which require daylight.
As important as large farms are, one day soon many highly populated cities will be able
to cultivate and purchase their produce all year long right in the city. Vertical farming will make
this possible by using controlled environments. With vertical farming the farmer can control
water usage, hours of light, quality of air and nutrients in virtually any environment. Produce will
be easier to maintain and will require less skilled labor due to how most systems will be
automated and run by sensors. Vertical Farm Systems are fully automated growing systems with
automatic SMS text messaging for any faults. Manual labor is only required on-site for planting,
harvesting and packaging of crops - and the required skill levels are very low
(verticalfarms.com) This system will play major role in feeding the worlds growing population in
the most highly populated areas. Vertical farms will reduce the use of fossil fuels because they
will reduce the number tractors in the field and there will be no need for transportation of the
goods. The product will be able to go directly from the garden to the home of the consumer.
Cultivation of the plant will also take less time growing outdoors because the indoor growing
system can create the best growing environment possible for the specific plant. Crop cycles are
also faster due to the systems controlled temperature, humidity, daylight hours optimization and
the use of biophonic biologically active organic plant nutrients. The systems can produce market
grade produce of several crops within just 21 days. (verticalfarms.com) Faster cultivation and
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higher yields of the crop combined with prime location will make this invention a huge success.
With the success of vertical agriculture there will be less stress on the farmers out in the field.
Vertical farming will also decrease the use of fossil fuels because there will be minimal if any
transportation of the crop and none used for planting, fertilizing and harvesting.
These three new technologies are just scratching the surface of the future. Advancements
will continue evolve and get better as time goes by, constantly finding new ways to provide
farmers with key information to make the process of agriculture more efficient. From sensing
soil fertility and controlling an entire farm operation from behind a computer screen to growing a
cities fresh food supply right in the heart of the city, these machines will simplify and make the
process more productive. The entire planet will become more environmentally aware resulting in
a greener, healthier and more sustainable future.

Farms of the future

References
Luis Ruiz-Garcia, (June 16, 2009) A Review of Wireless Sensor Technologies and Applications
in Agriculture and Food Industry: State of the Art and Current Trends.
Taylor Dobbs (July 9, 2013) Farms of the Future Will Run on Robots and Drones
Verticalfarms.com, Advantages of Vertical Farming